Bereshit 5764
There is an interesting Gemara in Megila, that asks where is Haman’s name, (Haman Harasha), where is his name alluded to or hinted to in the Torah? It seems that everybody’s name throughout history is written in the Chamisha Chumshe Torah somewhere in the Torah. So the Gemara is asking where can we find Haman Harasha, the villain of the story of Purim, where is he mentioned in the Torah?
So the Gemara says, it actually comes from this week’s Parasha, Parashat Bereshit, Perek 3, after Adam Harishon ate from the tree. G-d comes to Adam in the eleventh Pasuk and says, ‘Vayomer Mi Higid Licha Ki Erom Ata", meaning, who told you that you don’t have any clothes on? G-d continues, "Hamin Haetz Asher Tziviticha Libilti Achal Mimenu Achalta?" G-d says, ‘Hamin Haetz’, from the tree that I told you not to eat, did you eat from it? So the word ‘Hamin’ is the same letters as Haman. So that’s where Haman’s name is hinted.
So many of the Rabbis try to understand if there is a connection? And what is the connection between Adam Harsihon eating from the tree and Haman Harasha, that his name is mentioned in that same episode.
So I heard a brilliant explanation that says the following. What was the downfall of Haman Harasha? Haman Harasha was a man that seemingly had everything. He had wealth, he had many children, he had prestige, and after all he held the King’s signet. He was the most powerful man in the world. A man like this seemingly should have been lacking nothing, and should have been happy with what he had. But Haman says, ‘Vichol Zeh Enennu Shove Li’. That all this is not wroth anything to me, so long as the one Jew, the one Mordechai, does not bow to me. And because of that one thing that he was lacking that he couldn’t have, he ended up losing everything. And that actually took him out of this world. And that’s the same thing that happened to Adam Harsihon.
Adam Harishon was living in Gan Eden. The man had everything. G-d told him you can eat from every tree in the garden, but only one tree you can’t eat from. And it was that one tree that he couldn’t have, that Adam Harsihon wanted. And as a result, similarly to Haman, somebody that had everything, but it was the one thing that was forbidden to him that he couldn’t attain, that took him out of this world. And therefore, Chas Veshalom, we compare Adam Harishon who was great Tzadik to Haman, but in concept they both suffered the same problem in the sense that because they couldn’t have everything, so that already it caused them at the end, to end up with nothing.
And that’s a great lesson in life. Be happy with what you have. Adam Harishon was looking at the tree that he wasn’t allowed to eat, and had he looked at all the trees that he was allowed to eat, and all the food he was allowed to eat, then he wouldn’t have a problem. Had Haman looked at all the blessings that he had and not looked at the one thing that he didn’t have, he could then have also enjoyed a different fate. The lesson to us is to look at the things we have, and not look at the things we don’t have. Because when we get caught up with the things we have not attained yet, we end up usually losing the things that we already have.
